INDIANAPOLIS — Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton made sure the Indiana Pacers gave their fans a celebration they waited 25 years to see again.
Siakam had 31 points and Haliburton scored 11 of his 21 in the fourth quarter, carrying the Pacers to a 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night for a 4-2 series win in their Eastern Conference title matchup and the franchise’s first trip to the NBA Finals since 2000.
It’s just the second time they’ll play for an NBA championship. The best-of-seven series begins Thursday in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder holding home-court advantage after finishing the regular-season with a league-best record of 68-14. The Thunder wrapped up a 4-1 series win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, giving them a week to prepare for their first NBA Finals since 2012.
Indiana was just 50-32 during the regular season, but the Pacers played above their No. 4 seed in the East, taking down the third-seeded Knicks after a 4-1 series win in the second round against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. They also won their first-round series against the fifth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games.
The Pacers were an original member of the American Basketball Association when they debuted in 1967, and they won a trio of ABA titles (1970, 1972, 1973) before moving to the NBA in 1976 in a league merger. Their first NBA Finals appearance was in the 1999-2000 season, and they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers, who would also win the next two titles.
And now, a quarter-century later, Indiana is getting another opportunity.
“Pascal and Tyrese put us on their backs and made sure we would not lose,” coach Rick Carlisle told the gold-clad crowd that was on its feet for the waning minutes and the postgame party Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “But our work has just begun.”
Siakam won the Larry Bird Trophy as MVP of the Eastern Conference title series. Bird is the only other coach to take the Pacers to the Finals. Haliburton finished with 13 assists and Obi Toppin added 18 points and six rebounds against his former team.
OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 24 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson added 19 points as the Pacers’ relentless ball pressure forced New York into 17 turnovers.
“There were stretches where we played very good defense and stretches where we didn’t,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I think once you dig into it and you look at is, was it our defense? Or was it our turnovers? I think it was probably a combination of both.”
Whatever the explanation, the Knicks are headed home again courtesy of the Pacers. New York still hasn’t played in the NBA Finals since 1999.
It was a magical night in Indianapolis, from the festive pregame atmosphere through the roaring ovation for the starters as they departed with 47.2 seconds on the clock to former Pacers star guard Reggie Miller’s presentation of the Eastern Conference’s Bob Cousy Trophy to team owner Herb Simon on TNT’s final NBA broadcast. Miller was one of the telecast’s color analysts.
And yet it was a tough, physical game that didn’t always follow the Pacers’ preferred style.
Whether it was Towns limping after drawing a foul or Haliburton holding his jaw when he took a shot that knocked him to the ground, the tone was set early — and never really changed with so much at stake.
Indiana finally broke open a close game by opening the second half on a 9-0 run, then extended its lead to 78-63 courtesy of three straight 3-pointers — two from Thomas Bryant and one from Andrew Nembhard. The run ignited the crowd, which included everyone from quarterback Anthony Richardson of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts to star guard Caitlin Clark of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever to actor Timothee Chalamet.
But when the Knicks answered with eight straight to cut the deficit to 78-71, the Pacers responded with another 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game, and the visitors were forced to play catch-up the rest of the night. They never got all the way back.
“This is no time to be popping champagne,” said Carlisle, who won the 2011 NBA title as coach of the Dallas Mavericks. “When you get to this point of the season, it’s two teams and it’s one goal. So it becomes an all-or-nothing thing and we understand the magnitude of it.”